Engagement Ideas for Fall & Winter Commencements

December commencements present a unique challenge for university planners. The graduating class is excited, families have traveled to celebrate, and faculty want to honor student achievements. Yet somehow, the ceremony itself can feel disconnected.

When hundreds or thousands of students cross the stage in rapid succession, individual recognition becomes difficult. Parents struggle to see their graduate cross the stage. Remote family members struggle to stay engaged through a livestream. And by the time the last name is called, that sense of shared celebration has often faded.

This disconnect isn’t anyone’s fault. It’s just really hard to create meaningful engagement when you’re managing a large-scale ceremony with tight time constraints. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Understanding Fall and Winter Commencement Challenges

Fall and winter commencements happen primarily in December, though some schools hold November or January ceremonies. Different institutions call them different things, but they celebrate the same milestone: students completing their degrees at the semester’s end.

These ceremonies come with their own set of obstacles that spring graduations don’t face. Weather is the most obvious issue. Indoor venues can feel cramped when you’re trying to accommodate large graduating classes plus their guests. Outdoor ceremonies risk cold temperatures, rain, or snow. Even with contingency plans, weather concerns create stress for everyone involved.

The holiday season adds another layer of complexity. Families are juggling travel plans around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Students are finishing finals while trying to coordinate housing moves and job transitions. Faculty and staff are wrapping up semester responsibilities while managing their own holiday commitments.

Attendance is often lower than spring ceremonies. Some December graduates choose to walk in the spring ceremony instead. Family members who live far away sometimes can’t make a second trip during an already busy travel season.

These factors make engagement even more critical. When you have fewer attendees and more logistical hurdles, every interaction matters more.

Pre-Ceremony Engagement Strategies

Getting graduates and guests excited before they arrive sets the tone for the entire event.

Create a ceremony hashtag early: Share it in all communications starting at least three weeks before the event. Email it to graduates, include it in digital programs, and post it on your university’s social channels. When graduates start using it to share their excitement, you’re already building momentum.

Launch a photo submission campaign: Ask graduates to submit their favorite photos from their time at the university. These could show up later during the ceremony (more on that in the next section) or in a post-ceremony slideshow. Give them multiple ways to submit: Instagram with your hashtag, a web form, or text message.

Send personalized digital programs: Instead of (or in addition to) printed programs, create a mobile-friendly version that guests can access on their phones. Include interactive elements like a map of campus, profiles of distinguished graduates, or a schedule that sends push notifications.

Add the content to your website: Set up a dedicated social media hub on your commencement website where all this content lives. This becomes a growing celebration that families can check daily. It’s also a great way to share important logistics information between personal celebration posts.

Interactive Elements During the Ceremony

This is where engagement becomes crucial. You need strategies that work for in-person attendees and remote viewers simultaneously.

Recognition Beyond Name Reading

The traditional model of calling names while graduates walk across the stage serves its purpose, but it doesn’t create much engagement. Here are some additions that help:

Display graduate spotlights on screens: As each graduate’s name is called, show their photo and a brief achievement or quote on the venue’s screens. This gives the audience something visual to connect with and helps remote viewers identify who’s walking. Keep these to 5-10 seconds per graduate to maintain pacing.

Feature student stories between sections: Break up the name reading with short video segments (60-90 seconds) highlighting 3-4 graduates’ journeys. These human interest stories give everyone a mental break while maintaining emotional connection.

Social Walls

A social wall solves multiple engagement problems at once. It displays real-time social media posts from your ceremony hashtag on screens throughout the venue and on your livestream.

Here’s what makes social walls particularly effective for commencements:

Graduates and guests naturally want to share the moment. A social wall gives those posts a second life by featuring them during the ceremony itself. When someone sees their post appear on the big screen, they become more invested in the event. They’re not just attending anymore; they’re participating.

For remote viewers, social walls create connection. Family members watching from home can post messages of congratulation that appear at the venue and on the video live stream in real time. Graduates can see those messages during the ceremony making the physical distance feel less significant.

Social walls also solve the memory preservation challenge. All those posts that appear on the wall are collected and saved. After the ceremony, universities can share a recap of the social wall content, giving everyone a way to relive the day.

Everwall’s Event Social Wall supports content from Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Bluesky, and more. For family members not on social media, there’s web forms and SMS as alternate options. And the moderation features keep inappropriate content from appearing while still allowing spontaneous, authentic posts to shine through.

Position screens where waiting families can see them before the ceremony starts and during slower moments. The pre-ceremony period when people find seats is perfect for showcasing arrival photos and well-wishes. During the name-calling portion, you might pause the social wall or show it on secondary screens so attention stays on graduates crossing the stage.

If your video streaming platform doesn’t allow for showing the social posts on the video itself, consider embedding your social wall on the commencement website alongside the video stream instead. Families can watch both simultaneously on their computers. Everwall’s social walls include website embeds at no extra cost, making this integration straightforward.

Live Q&A and Messages

Set up a way for guests to submit questions or messages leading up to or during the ceremony. This could be as simple as a text number where people can send congratulations to specific graduates, or as complex as a moderated Q&A session with university leadership.

Display the best messages on screens during transition periods. This keeps energy high during moments that might otherwise drag.

Photo Opportunities

Strategic photo setups encourage sharing and give people reasons to move around during breaks:

• A backdrop with the university logo and commencement year
• Props related to your school’s traditions
• Faculty or mascots available for photos during the reception
• Designated “Instagram-worthy” spots marked with signs that include your hashtag

Post-Ceremony Connection and Memory Preservation

The ceremony ends, but the experience doesn’t have to.

Share a social media recap within 24 hours: Compile the best posts, photos, and moments from your social wall into a highlight reel or photo gallery. Tag graduates and encourage them to share.

Create a searchable photo database: Professional photos from the ceremony should be easy to find. Use a platform where graduates can search by their name or ID number to find their specific stage-crossing moment.

Send a follow-up email with resources: Include links to photos, videos, the social wall archive, and any other digital content from the day. Add information about alumni networks and upcoming events.

Keep the hashtag active: Monitor your ceremony hashtag for several days after the event. Share late-arriving posts and continue engaging with graduates as they post their own photos and reflections.

Examples of Commencement Innovation

Several universities have found creative ways to make their ceremonies more engaging.

The University of Texas at Austin incorporated social walls into their commencement ceremonies, displaying student posts throughout the event. This created visible proof that students and families were actively participating, which encouraged even more sharing.

Harper College used real-time social media displays to connect in-person and remote attendees. Family members who couldn’t travel to the ceremony still felt present through the messages they could send that appeared on venue screens.

University at Buffalo, University of Pennsylvania, UMass Global, and Pepperdine University have all found ways to make their commencements more interactive through digital audience engagement tools. The common thread is giving attendees multiple ways to participate beyond just watching.

The key isn’t copying what these schools did exactly. It’s understanding the principle: give people ways to actively participate, not just passively observe.

Planning Timeline for Commencement Engagement

Getting these elements right requires advance planning. Here’s a practical timeline:

6-8 Weeks Before

• Design and launch your ceremony hashtag
• Brief the communications team on social media strategy
• Order any physical signage featuring the hashtag
• Coordinate with livestream provider about displaying social content
• Set up your social wall and test it
• Consult with Everwall about customization options and implementation

3-4 Weeks Before

• Email graduates about engagement opportunities
• Create templates for shareable graphics
• Start posting behind-the-scenes content
• Test moderation workflows for your social wall
• Confirm photo and video vendors

1-2 Weeks Before

• Send reminder emails with hashtag and participation instructions
• Post daily on university social channels
• Brief student ambassadors or volunteers who will help at the event
• Do final technical checks on all systems
• Create a backup plan for technology failures

Day Of

• Set up the social wall before ceremony begins
• Have staff monitor and moderate incoming content
• Post regular updates on university channels
• Capture video and photos of attendees using engagement features

Week After

• Compile and share recap content
• Send thank-you emails with links to photos and videos
• Analyze engagement metrics
• Document what worked and what didn’t
• Start planning improvements for next ceremony

Making December Ceremonies Special

Winter commencements will always have unique challenges. The weather, the timing, the smaller crowds—these are givens. But they’re also opportunities.

Smaller ceremonies can feel more intimate when you design engagement opportunities that connect people. The holiday season means families are already in a celebratory mood. Cold weather makes people appreciate warm, welcoming touches even more.

The key is designing engagement that works for your specific situation. A 200-person ceremony needs different approaches than a 2,000-person ceremony. An indoor arena allows different technology than an outdoor stadium. A school with a strong social media presence can leverage that existing community in ways that others can’t yet.

Start with one or two engagement strategies and do them really well. Get your ceremony hashtag working effectively. Add a social wall that creates visible participation. Build from there based on what resonates with your graduates and families.

Every graduate deserves to feel recognized. Every family member should feel connected to the celebration, whether they’re in the front row or watching from across the country. That’s what these engagement strategies ultimately accomplish. They turn a large-scale logistical event into a meaningful shared experience.